Review of 'The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Agatha Christie' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A very handy book to have if you're interested in Christie. I had the original paperback of this book back in the early 80s, and read it until it literally fell apart. Some of the information in it is rather dated (it was published originally in 1979) such as the movies and TV series based on her books. You won't find David Suchet's excellent Poirot series in here, for example. However, there are very nice, detailed summaries of all the books and the most important short stories. There are icons next to the title of the book on the summary - a closed book for a novel, masks of tragedy and comedy for a play, a ball of yarn with knitting needles for Miss Marple, etc. - that make it easy to figure out at a glance that, say, "A Murder is Announced" is a Miss Marple Novel, while "Labours …
A very handy book to have if you're interested in Christie. I had the original paperback of this book back in the early 80s, and read it until it literally fell apart. Some of the information in it is rather dated (it was published originally in 1979) such as the movies and TV series based on her books. You won't find David Suchet's excellent Poirot series in here, for example. However, there are very nice, detailed summaries of all the books and the most important short stories. There are icons next to the title of the book on the summary - a closed book for a novel, masks of tragedy and comedy for a play, a ball of yarn with knitting needles for Miss Marple, etc. - that make it easy to figure out at a glance that, say, "A Murder is Announced" is a Miss Marple Novel, while "Labours of Hercules" is a Hercule Poirot short story collection. Unlike "The Agatha Christie's Who Who," there are very few spoilers here. The only one I can remember is the solution to "Five Little Pigs" and you have to look for that.
This book may be out of print again. I came across it purely by chance on eBay. I have not seen it for sale new anywhere. However, you can pick it up quite cheaply. I paid less than $10, including shipping, for my copy. I recommend getting the hardback ;)